Goodnest receives $1 million funding boost, looks to expand

Thursday, 13 July 2017

Home services company Goodnest, backed by multimillionaire Trade Me founder Sam Morgan and The Warehouse founder Sir Stephen Tindall, has received $1 million to expand.

Goodnest offers cleaners, handymen, electricians, plumbers and gardeners.

Goodnest founders James MacAvoy and Richard Humphries.

The $1m comes from K1W1, an investment firm owned by Tindall , as well as from Morgan, former Trade Me commercial manager James McGee, early Trade Me investor and former chairman Richard Abbott, and Phil McCaw, of Movac.

Goodnest co-founder James MacAvoy said the cash injection would be used to expand nationwide, develop its digital platforms, and look at opportunities overseas.

Sir Stephen Tindall has invested in Goodnest through his company K1W1.

Goodnest was co-founded in 2014 by MacAvoy, who also started online movie rental company Fatso, and Richard Humphries.

The company started out as a residential cleaning company in Auckland. It now employs about 20 people and manages more than 800 tradespeople.

Goodnest offers 13 services, including house washing, deep cleaning, handy man jobs, as well as glass repair and pest control and meth testing.

MacAvoy said the new investment allowed the company to 'accelerate growth'.

Goodnest already operates in Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin, Hamilton, and Tauranga, but plans to add more towns and cities throughout New Zealand, and possibly in Australia.

'We have been testing Sydney over the last year, [but] right now we're focusing on our platform and service here, then will revisit expansion overseas,' MacAvoy said.

'We're not in a huge hurry as the market in New Zealand for our core services is enormous and we've got so much cool stuff to build first,' he said.

The $1m would also fund new features to the company's app, as well as the development of a tradesperson app, he said.

'Our platform will embrace things like real-time chat, a view of where your tradie is on a map, like Uber.

A new board has been appointed with Bain Hollister as chairman, and Morgan, MacAvoy and Humphries as directors.

To date, the company has had more than 100,000 bookings.